Three German students surprise a homeless guy

We pay Hollywood untold billions of dollars to hijack our imaginations and no one bats an eye! It's art and its meant to stir the pot! They hired an actor!...How dare they! At the end of the day they put forth a concept and they did it using the tried and true methods of storytelling...They didn't bomb a hospital!!!!

a reply to: minkmouse

No, they didn't.

But when you go to a movie, you know it's fiction, unless otherwise told.

In this case, while they disclosed in some manner their method, it really wasn't done with the intention it would be widely known. Such is the nature of viral social media.

I don't know about you, but I hate being manipulated.

The Kobe thing put the nail in the coffin for me.

I would have much preferred if this video had been the real thing.

Just sayin'.

Hmmm.

I nearly cried. Than I realized he was an actor.

Couldn't they have found a real homeless guy?

Plenty of them around.

*

EDIT:

Before filming we asked ourselves the following question: Can we simply film a person in distress and put it up on the internet, without asking them or knowing their history? Our answer is quite clearly no, which is why we have hired an actor to take on this role.

That's an excellent point.

If it was a real homeless guy they'd be preying on him, putting him on film without genuine permission, and look like a bunch of vultures.

Amazing actor, BTW.

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: minkmouse

I don't know about you, but I hate being manipulated.

The Kobe thing put the nail in the coffin for me.

I would have much preferred if this video had been the real thing.

Just sayin'.

Then go and make a real vid.

Got a bongo?

Just suggestin'

I could tell something was fishy when a group of people began standing around them before anything remotely musical was happening.
It was very obvious at that point that this was staged on some level.

Shame on them, this is just posturing to go viral.

And yeah, I've played music on the street for years and it's very easy to find people who you can brighten their day with a song. So it's just plainly clear that they did this in order to capture all the right "conditions" for a viral video.

All these guys did is found an organisation (be japy e.v.) to help people in need and trying to promote it using youtube and social media. What is wrong with that?

www.facebook.com...

a reply to: pl3bscheese

They made MONEY off this video. It's had 4 million views from people sitting comfortably in their homes, smiling, and thinking somehow the world is a better place... just cause.

And gave me inspiration to help others in need in any way I can.

So is it really a fail?

a reply to: nighthawk1954

Nice gesture. Not much money raised by the looks of it but the thought and effort were there.

However, you do that in Central London and the guy would spend it on alcohol or drugs. So your help can become a hindrance. I once gave a can of dog food to a homeless guy who had a dog with them. He threw it at me.

Nice video but just not as simple as they make it out to be.

a reply to: nighthawk1954

It's nice to see feel good stories on this site!

LL

a reply to: eggbert

This video isn't the end of the world...just not as meaningful, because it isn't real.

While on the topic of 'staged' feel good videos, this is a good one I've seen recently:



Not bad for a life insurance commercial.

a reply to: nighthawk1954

Ausgezeichnet (outstanding) !

capitalism , again money . no money good does not happen? youtu.be...

I should really learn to trust my instincts..


My mind no longer absorbs anything that isn't relevant to what im researching, backed up with many reference links, mentally stimulating or thought provoking.
It used to see the beauty and the humanity first, but then , as I ventured further down the rabbit hole , nothing could be taken at face value anymore. Everything had an agenda, a motive, a monetary target and a manipulation of some kind was at the core of it all.

Ive known this for years, and yet sometimes I still get sucked into believing that human kindness and empathy is the essence of this video, and so many like it.

I watched this a few days ago and forced my mind to absorb this as a beautiful story that showed the 'light' side of humanity and how much power we would have as a species that actually respected one another.
I pushed back all the motive?? thoughts and turned off the 'Fake' alarms going off in my brain.

I smiled. And for a short time I felt proud of humanity and proud to be human.

So as expected the video went viral and it was exposed as a fake within hours.

Its really quite frustrating that we are shown manufactured examples of the power of empathy and respect. Especially in a time when all we are being exposed to is the dark side of humanity. The hatred, the apathy and the greed.

Its almost like we have accepted that humanity is pathetic, greedy, murderous and self indulgent, and therefore we expect everyone to act that way.
We have such an enormous amount of power and positivity within us when we become caring, kind, selfless and loving.
Yet for some reason the darkness of our nature casts a black shadow over the good that is done.

I would rather die thinking that humanity wasn't capable of such greatness, than to die knowing that it just chose not to be.
So Frustrating.

So anyway, back to reality..

a reply to: caged66

I felt the same way, but did you see their reason for using an actor?

Before filming we asked ourselves the following question: Can we simply film a person in distress and put it up on the internet, without asking them or knowing their history? Our answer is quite clearly no, which is why we have hired an actor to take on this role.

Pretty solid thinking, that shows a high level of integrity and respect.

True, It is solid thinking.

But its also a good example of what kind of world we live in, where the message of empathy and love is contaminated by corporate technicalities.

a reply to: caged66

Oh the humanity!

Most of the mainstream media is fiction.